Pirate Mama: A Quest for Badassery

Some people have credited us with making up the word badassery as part of the Pirate Mama Kickstarter. Unfortunately, it’s not mine to claim. Urban Dictionary defines badassery as “engaging in seemingly impossibly success in a manner that renders all onlookers completely awestruck.”

I disagree with that definition. While I haven’t coined the word, I’m aiming to redefine it. To me, badassery has nothing to do what anyone else thinks. Badassery is the magic of a rainbow when nobody else is around to see it. It’s rediscovering wonder. It’s about pursuing the impossible when the crowds have all gone home. It’s about tapping into your knowledge and experience to reach beyond your believed limits. Badassery is becoming the truest expression of yourself.

Badassery requires us to pursue the things that make our hearts sing, our feet dance, and our eyes shine. It’s about doing what makes us feel most alive. It’s not enough to keep doing the same things over again. We must continue to grow, to explore, to take risks and challenge ourselves.

It’s tempting to measure our badassery by an external yardstick – the number of miles we run, the class of rapids we paddle, or the difficulty of the route we climb. Worse yet, we compare our efforts to the successes of others. We are not the trails we run or the rivers we paddle or the rocks we climb. We are people.

True badassery is all about reaching and failing and having the courage to reach again. Badassery is the graceful attitude we muster up even on the worst of days. It’s about letting go of control and plans so that the journey unfurls, having faith in our ability to adjust as we go.

One of the highlights from the Pirate Mama Kickstarter has been seeing our t-shirts come together. Two weeks after we launched, a graphic artist friend offered to design something for the project. We thought a t-shirt would be a great addition to the rewards we offered backers, but had no idea what to print on it.

I reread the comments our backers wrote about the project and one particularly resonated with me. A friend who shared the project on social media encouraged others to help me fulfill my dream of “matriarchal badassery.”I loved how he phrased it but realized not everybody wanted to wear that logo around town.

There are so many aspects of our project. As a single mom I’m redefining my own notions about what that means by fulfilling a lifelong parenting dream of sailing with my young child. The project involves collecting water samples to test for microplastics and connecting local kids to their watery backyards.

The common thread between is parenting, humanitarian, and environmental goals our striving to be our best selves. Besides I didn’t want to limit our project to mamas or even parents. Everyone is striving to achieve badassery in some aspect of life. Our logo became Badassery and within minutes of posting it on Facebook, another friend sent an email. “If you need some help printing those t-shirts, let me know. I have everything you need right here.”

We think our backers our reaching for badassery too. To order your t-shirt, go to our Pirate Mama Kickstarter and select the $35 reward for your choice of a short- or long-sleeved shirt in either blue or charcoal. The campaign ends this November 4th at 4 pm EST and with it ends you chance to wear one of these comfy t-shirts. Go to Pirate Mama Kickstarter to order yours today!